Historian Alexis Coe of the wonderful Study Marry Kill newsletter was kind enough to interview me about my new book, The Elephants in the Room. We had some video issues, but the audio came through great so I’m posting it here. (You can also listen in podcast form.) Among the things we discuss:
All the ways a 2024 Trump nomination did not seem inevitable in early 2023, even though it seems very obvious in hindsight
Whether, even if Trump isn’t a terribly strategic thinker, he possesses a genius for controlling media attention
Whether the modern Republican Party is a classic party machine, or, in Alexis’ words, “less a political party than a loyalty enforcement operation with legislative powers”
Whether the GOP is ripe for a post-Trump renewal and transformation along the lines of Chester A. Arthur when he suddenly became president in 1881
The different ways historians and political scientists understand parties and attempt to make sense of a presidency with very few historical analogues
What Democrats might have done better in 2024 and whether a longer campaign or a contested nomination could have helped Kamala Harris against Trump
It’s a super meaty conversation! I hope you’ll check it out.
